BAE Systems to develop new Fiber-Optic Towed Decoy
BAE Systems will develop and demonstrate a next-generation, dual band Fiber-Optic Towed Decoy (FOTD) for the US Navy under a $36.7 million contract announced on 28 October.
The FOTD will provide self-protection capabilities for aircraft - including fighters, bombers and transports - against advanced threats using radio-frequency countermeasures.
The Dual Band Decoy development work is intended to expand the capabilities of the AN/ALE-55 FOTD.
Tom McCarthy, Dual Band Decoy program director at BAE Systems, said: ‘ALE-55 FOTD is a reliable, high-powered jamming system with years of mission success on the F/A-18E/F and extensive flight-testing on a variety of aircraft. Under this new Dual Band Decoy contract, our focus will be building upon the ALE-55’s proven performance in order to defeat the threats of tomorrow.’
The decoy lures threat missiles away from the aircraft, and combines techniques that disrupt adversaries’ radar, preventing missile launch from occurring. The Dual Band Decoy will be able to interface with onboard electronic warfare equipment, but it can also operate independently.
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